436 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



our citizens in that quarter, a vessel of war, of suitable force, will 

 soon be required to cruise off the coasts referred to. 



I am, &.c. 



A. Vail, Acting Secretary. 

 Commodore I. Chauncey, 



Acting Secretary of the Navy. 



Commodore GJiauncey to Mr. Vail. 



Navy Department, 



August 9, 1889. 

 Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 

 this date, apprising the department that, for the protection of the 

 rights and interests of our citizens engaged in the fisheries along the 

 coasts of Nova Scotia, a vessel of war will soon be required to cruise 

 off these coasts; and to inform you that the United States schooner 

 Grampus, now lying at Norfolk, will be prepared to proceed to that 

 quarter with all practicable despatch, in obedience to the wishes of 

 the President of the United States, as indicated by your letter. 

 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 



I. Chauncey, 

 Acting Secretary of the Navy. 

 A. Vail, Esq. 



Acting Secretary of State. 



Mr. Vail to the President of the United States. 



Department of State, 



August 14, 1839. 



In obedience to the direction of the President, received at the 

 Department of State on the 9th instant, " to report to him the treaty 

 stipulations which bear upon the subject, (the seizure of American 

 fishing vessels on the coast of Nova Scotia;) the conflicting questions 

 of right, if any, which have arisen under them ; and the nature and 

 circumstances of the cases which have been presented to this gov- 

 ernment by our citizens, as infractions of right on the part of the 

 British authorities," the acting Secretary of State has the honor to 

 state: 



That the only existing treaty stipulations bearing upon the subject 

 are found in the first article of the convention between the United 

 States and Great Britain, signed at London on the 20th of October, 

 1818, which is in the words following: 



" Whereas differences have arisen respecting the liberty claimed 

 by the United States for the inhabitants thereof to take, dry and cure 

 fish on certain coasts, bays, harbors and creeks of his Britannic 

 Majesty's dominions in America, it is agreed between the high con- 

 tracting parties, that the inhabitants of the said United States shall 

 have forever, in common with the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, 

 the liberty to take fish of every kind on that part of the southern 



